Direct3D 12 in C-Style C++

A minimal Direct3D 12 example that draws an animated triangle, written entirely in C-style C++, and all taking place inside a single function.

Fruity Frustration

Once upon a time (~10 days ago), I wanted to draw a lonely triangle using the mysterious Direct3D 12. I looked in the wild for a clear example to follow but couldn't find any. I yearned for one that would provide a head start and get out of the way immediately, but instead I was met with all manner of verbose and cryptic messes. Each one demanded a pursuit of its own right, which is distined to be littered with dread and meaningless struggle, just to understand what it does; and, should I refuse, it threatened to take away all my precious enthusiasm and hope to one day witness my very own three-sided creation upon the screen... Long story short, this program is the fruit of that very frustration!

What Is Different?

The program draws an animated triangle on the screen as expected, with the bare minimum amout of work it could get away with. All this work is expressed in clear, C-style C++; no OOP ornamentation or modern C++ spaghetti. In addition to that, the entire program is simply a set of steps laid out in a natural linear fashion, which all take place inside the WinMain() function.

See it in motion.

The Code Layout

The program is made up of two files.

• hello.cxx -- sets up Direct3D 12 and uses it to feed the GPU with three vertices and a contrived texture.

• shaders.hlsl -- holds the shaders which receive that data and manipulate it to produce the final result.

As long as both files are located in the same directory, all you have to do to build it is feed the C++ file to the compiler. Alternatively you can run the accompanied build script to avoid extraneous typing.

Examples by Other People

This program is primarily inspired by the work of @mmozeiko. His Direct3D 11 in C example is the first program I come across that is written in this linear fashion, all inside a single function.

Other examples:

• Direct3D 11 in C++ by @d7samurai.

• Direct3D 12 in C by @rdunnington.

Official Resources

Direct3D 12 Programming Guide

DirectX Graphics Samples

Microsoft DirectX 12 and Graphics Education